As you may already know, my husband being German loves his potatoes. But as a German, he enjoys his potatoes to taste good. Unfortunately too often when he orders out, he is often presented with a tasteless mass of purée. Now I understand why he often asks for extra gravy or sauce;-)

In order to avoid this mistake, you always want to think of flavoring potatoes while they are cooking. It is placing a few springs of herbs or placing a few teaspoons of  broth in the water if you are boiling the potatoes or placing them along the potatoes while they are steaming. Today I used bacon and fresh thyme, but you really can use anything that strikes you fancy;-)
Ingredients for 4-6: 6-8 medium sized potatoes ( i used Yukon Gold) , 2-3 cup of milk or cream ( i use cream because it makes more smoother mashed potatoes), 1 tsp of fresh thyme, 2 tbsp of bacon bits, 1 tsp of sea salt, 1/4 tsp of pepper.

Peel and dice the potatoes in small square. Place the potatoes in the large round mold, add the fresh thyme, the bacon bits, 1 tbsp of water and cover the large round mold with the octogonal silpat.

Cook in the microwave for 14-15 minutes or until the potatoes are soft enough to be mashed. Empty the potatoes into a large bowl and with a potato masher, mash the potatoes. Warm up the cream in the microwave for 2 minutes or on the stove until it is almost boiling and pour the warm milk over the potatoes while you are stirring. Add salt and pepper and stir. Add more cream if you like your mashed potatoes to be more runny. Et voila!!!

I served those wonderful potatoes with a Salade Composee ( see post at a later date), and Smokey Mesquite Pork Tenderloin. It was so yummy!!!

Bon Appetit and Happy Cooing!!!